First thing in the morning we visit the ‘Mouraki Boulders’ which are like giant cracked marbles on Koekohe Beach which could be part of the Cornish coast. According to Maori legend these are remains of eel baskets, calabash (a ‘long melon’ grown not as food but to use as containers) and sweet potatoes washed up from a wreck of an ‘Arai-te-uru’, the large sailing canoes that brought the Ngai Tahu tribe (the original South Island Maoris) to New Zealand. However, according to geological legend, they were formed by mud sediments, but I think the legend is much easier to comprehend. There is a $2 fee to go onto the beach, and another $2 to buy deer feed who are in a field next to the car park. They gobble and slobber all over my hands, but there is a bathroom in the info centre.
After the boulders, we stop at Shag Point, an old coastal mining centre that now attracts tourists with its seal colony. The coal was extracted from a mine below sea level, which was active from 1863 up until the 1970s. There are remains of a rail line down to the sea line that was used to collect the coal. Walking past the old rail shed onto the rocks of the shore, I am startled when the washed up seaweed on the dry rocks lets out a grunt. It is then I realise that I am within ten feet of a resting seal that was equally startled by my presence, his brown grey fur easily camouflaging him amongst the dark maroon of the seaweed.
There are quite a few male, female and pup seals scattered around the rocks on the opposite side of the natural harbour. The largest male was feeling frisky, but the ladies kept their distance every time he gave chase, leaving him barking in frustration.
There is also supposed to be another penguin colony on Shag Point, but apparently not in the early afternoon.
We go to Dunedin for lunch, another Victorian-esque town which is twinned with Edinburgh in Scotland, Dunedin being the original name for Edinburgh in Scottish legend and early literature. This latter fact earns the right of Robert Burns to be commemorated here with a statue.
One of the older looking buildings in the town centre is the state subsidised theatre, which from the outside looks much like a traditional, small but elegant hotel. This week it is featuring a Burlesque show.
For lunch I stop at a pub near the theatre to have a duck risotto and a cider, costing me NZ $24 in all, so I am pushing the boat out already....
Leaving Dunedin, we move out onto Otagu Peninsula to visit Lanarch Castle, a mansion which was built by William Lanarch, a merchant / politician and completed in 1887. It does not possess a hugely imposing edifice and looks more like a posh country hotel. I am not sure what qualifies something to be called a castle. Maybe it is the presence of jagged topped walls on a tower for archers and cannons to fire from, but this tower was never going to see battle. However, Mr Lanarch was apparently visited by demons and he committed suicide in the Parliament buildings in 1898. The castle eventually fell into dis-repair but was restored by the current owners who bought it in 1967, though remnants of old horse carts and rusted farm machinery are still scattered around the grounds. It is now a tourist attraction and possesses a ballroom for hire. Caz, Mary and I avoid paying to go inside, but we spend a half hour or so walking around the gardens. For me the best thing about the place was the views it offers over the landscape from its elevated situation. I discovered an unmanicured part of the grounds, which I don’t think was meant for visitors and which was littered with large stone pots and plant boxes that were in the process of being restored and decorated with surface etchings. Not being a keen gardener, this was the favourite part of my visit.
I am attempting to go without cigarettes today. This attempt lasts until I throw a wobbly at Caz, who is driving today, for not following my directions to Owaka, so we stop at the next petrol station for fags and directions.
On the roads, we pass several farms with deer, ostrich and, of course, sheep. In one field we pass two ostrich who try to run away as our van passes. Either they were especially scared by the wild portrait of Gandalf on that side of the van, or they must spend all day running up and down their field fleeing from passing traffic.
Leaving the main road, the track to Purakaunui Bay, our next camping spot, is another gravel road, of which there are rather a lot in New Zealand. There can’t be more than a hundred vehicles a day which use this track.
Besides farming, the lightly populated South Island is very much geared toward tourism. Most vehicles we pass on the roads seem to be some sort of camper van and campsites, motels and hostels are numerous. There are even car auctions targeting backpackers, as it can be cheaper to buy and sell a vehicle rather than rent one, though of course there is more inherent risk. New Zealanders are a very relaxed and unpretentious people, like their Aussie cousins, though happily rules and regulations don’t seem to be high on Kiwi priorities. All this said, not all the locals are entirely welcoming. Passing through a town today, one boy of about twelve stood and looked at us as we passed. We waved to him, to which he responded by flipping us the bird.
Purakaunui Bay, just south of Cannibal Bay, is another beautiful place to camp. The campsite overlooks a beach enclosed by a cliff and rich vegetation. There is a seal resting on the beach. We can’t get onto the main part of the beach without getting wet, as a stream comes out of the valley and connects to the sea tide. Only truck tracks disturb the sand, using the beach as a boat launch. It seems odd to see this seal on its own on this large expanse of beach though.
Despite being near the most southerly point of New Zealand, the weather is still quite mild, though of course we are at low altitude.
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| views from Lanarch Castle grounds |
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| hidden grounds of Lanarch Castle |
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| Camping @ Purakaunui Bay |
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